Porto drives off with Toyota Cup

YOKOHAMA – European champion Porto defeated South American Libertadores Cup winner Once Caldas of Colombia 8-7 on penalties to win the 25th and final Toyota Cup in Yokohama on Sunday.

Porto’s Ricardo Costa (left) and Quaresma hold up the Toyota Cup after the Portuguese team beat Once Caldas of Colombia in Yokohama.

After the match finished scoreless after 120 minutes, Pedro Emanuel struck the decisive spot kick after Jhon Edwin Garcia had blazed over the bar to give the Portuguese powerhouse the unofficial title of the world’s best club side for the second time.

The win was no more than Porto deserved and capped a triumphant week for Victor Fernandez’s side following the 2-1 victory over Chelsea that put it into the last 16 of the Champions League.

“We always try and attack and create chances to win matches but it looked like our opponents wanted to play for penalties,” said Fernandez.

“Their goalkeeper made some great saves and we couldn’t score from the chances we had but we won the shootout and I feel very satisfied,” he added.

Porto, Toyota Cup winner in 1987, dominated long spells of the match but was constantly frustrated by the defensive Colombians, who allowed it few openings in the final third of the field.

Kashiwa stays up

KASHIWA (Kyodo) Kashiwa Reysol ensured itself first-division soccer next season after a 2-0 home win over Avispa Fukuoka in the second leg of a promotion-relegation playoff on Sunday.

Leading 2-0 from last week’s first leg at Hakata-no-Mori Stadium, Kashiwa went in front when Yuji Unozawa latched on to a Keiji Tamada pass to fire the home side in front on 58 minutes.

Unozawa then set up the second, his long pass finding Harutaka Ono, who headed the ball back for former Japan international Yasuhiro Hato to score in the 62nd minute and complete a 4-0 aggregate win.

“We got the best possible result from the worst situation. It’s all over finally,” relieved Kashiwa manager Hiroshi Hayano said.